You will not believe me when I say this, and you will point to the past, but I see an incredible team in the making at Arsenal. By incredible I mean even greater than 07/08 pre-Eduardo, Invincibles or any of the double sides.
Let me tell you why: It's mostly the youth.
So before you mention Vela, Merida and Bendter I'll explain.
For the first time you can look at our young players and see them performing at the top level. This isn't watching Vela score a hatrick against Sheffield United in the Carling Cup. This is watching an 18 year old Yennaris come on at half time against Manchester United and do an impressive job against Evra/Nani, some of the best attacking players (for their positions) on the planet. Or watching Szczesny make his league debut at Old Trafford and then his Champions League debut against Barcelona. If you compare the way our young players are being hyped now, to back then, you will see why. These are the players who are/were(injury) performing at the top level:
Szczesny- See above
Wilshere- Don't really need to explain
Ramsey- I'll defend him if you ask me to.
Chamberlain- Look at his CL debut and his first PL start
Miquel- Has performed, out of position, and done a good job
Yennaris-ditto
Coquelin-ditto
Frimpong- already a PL cult hero similar to Balotelli
And the players who are promising but have yet to actually do anything at Arsenal:
Wellington Silva
Ryodinho (Ryo Miyaichi)
Afobe
Bartley
Jenkinson (I rate him)
Gibbs (too injured)
Joel Campbell
And this is without delving into the youth teams to mention everyone at that level.
If you don't see it already then let me spell it out for you. We have NEVER had such a group of talent coming through into the first team. They're all practically the same age. Not only that, they have got a mentality that is superior to before. You only need to look at Wilshere, Szczesny, Frimpong and Chamberlain. None of them have been overawed when dropped into the deep end.
I know that it's all well and good saying look at the future, but you need players for the here and now. And this is the mistake Wenger made in the past. Now he's keeping, and adding, older players to allow these youths to grow more comfortably. Last season he ran Wilshere into the ground because he had to perform like a mature player with an immature body. And I think that is why he has kept Rosicky, Arshavin and also brought in Benayoun, Santos and Arteta. It is again backfiring somewhat in that 2 of them are injured and another is so out of form I doubt he'd start for West Brom.
This article hasn't flowed as well as I had hoped. But it seems to me that next year's team is capable of challenging for the title. We have three unbelievably talented young wingers in Chamberlain, Silva and Miyaichi. We have some of the best young strikers around in Campbell and Afobe. We have the best young midfielders in Wilshere, Ramsey, Coquelin, Frimpong (and we've got a fantastic generation in Gnarby, Toral and Olsson(all brought in last year) coming through. And our young defenders are proving themselves more talented than any of us thought.
I'm not saying that we can provide a team to compete with just these youth players. What I am saying is that we have a generation that will produce far more top level players than we've ever seen. If only we spend the money in a few key areas, we will have an insane squad.
Let me tell you why: It's mostly the youth.
So before you mention Vela, Merida and Bendter I'll explain.
For the first time you can look at our young players and see them performing at the top level. This isn't watching Vela score a hatrick against Sheffield United in the Carling Cup. This is watching an 18 year old Yennaris come on at half time against Manchester United and do an impressive job against Evra/Nani, some of the best attacking players (for their positions) on the planet. Or watching Szczesny make his league debut at Old Trafford and then his Champions League debut against Barcelona. If you compare the way our young players are being hyped now, to back then, you will see why. These are the players who are/were(injury) performing at the top level:
Szczesny- See above
Wilshere- Don't really need to explain
Ramsey- I'll defend him if you ask me to.
Chamberlain- Look at his CL debut and his first PL start
Miquel- Has performed, out of position, and done a good job
Yennaris-ditto
Coquelin-ditto
Frimpong- already a PL cult hero similar to Balotelli
And the players who are promising but have yet to actually do anything at Arsenal:
Wellington Silva
Ryodinho (Ryo Miyaichi)
Afobe
Bartley
Jenkinson (I rate him)
Gibbs (too injured)
Joel Campbell
And this is without delving into the youth teams to mention everyone at that level.
If you don't see it already then let me spell it out for you. We have NEVER had such a group of talent coming through into the first team. They're all practically the same age. Not only that, they have got a mentality that is superior to before. You only need to look at Wilshere, Szczesny, Frimpong and Chamberlain. None of them have been overawed when dropped into the deep end.
I know that it's all well and good saying look at the future, but you need players for the here and now. And this is the mistake Wenger made in the past. Now he's keeping, and adding, older players to allow these youths to grow more comfortably. Last season he ran Wilshere into the ground because he had to perform like a mature player with an immature body. And I think that is why he has kept Rosicky, Arshavin and also brought in Benayoun, Santos and Arteta. It is again backfiring somewhat in that 2 of them are injured and another is so out of form I doubt he'd start for West Brom.
This article hasn't flowed as well as I had hoped. But it seems to me that next year's team is capable of challenging for the title. We have three unbelievably talented young wingers in Chamberlain, Silva and Miyaichi. We have some of the best young strikers around in Campbell and Afobe. We have the best young midfielders in Wilshere, Ramsey, Coquelin, Frimpong (and we've got a fantastic generation in Gnarby, Toral and Olsson(all brought in last year) coming through. And our young defenders are proving themselves more talented than any of us thought.
I'm not saying that we can provide a team to compete with just these youth players. What I am saying is that we have a generation that will produce far more top level players than we've ever seen. If only we spend the money in a few key areas, we will have an insane squad.
